Kratos is a Hidden Boss in 'Shovel Knight'

Game Rant

By GR Staff

Published Apr 10, 2015

It's a battle of the old school versus the new school when 'Shovel Knight' hits PlayStation platforms, bringing along Kratos as a console-exclusive boss fight.

For players who easily succumb to nostalgia, Shovel Knight was the best game of 2014. As a love letter to the long-lost days of 8-bit gaming, Yacht Club Games' masterpiece revived the exacting platforming of classic titles like Mega Man and the NES' Duck Tales, while simultaneously utilizing the lessons learned over the past thirty years of game development. With a surprisingly emotional story and interesting, colorful characters, Shovel Knight was one of last year's biggest and best surprises.

Players and critics agreed, too. Last December, Shovel Knight won Best Indie Game at Geoff Keighley's The Game Awards, and it scored two nominations at 2015's Game Developers' Choice Awards. While Shovel Knight originally launched on PC and the Nintendo 3DS, thanks to the overwhelmingly positive reception the game quickly made its way to Linux, OS X, and Nintendo's Wii U. PlayStation and Xbox One ports are coming very soon.

Still, the original version of Shovel Knight is close to a year old. People who want to play it have probably done so. Yacht Club Games knows this, and in order to make the upcoming ports a little sweeter, they're adding some extra incentives: the Xbox One version of Shovel Knight will get extra bosses in the form of the Battletoads, while PlayStation owners will get to pit Shovel Knight against Kratos, the God of War.

Sony announced Kratos' invasion of Shovel Knight at last December's PlayStation Experience, but with the PlayStation port only a few weeks away, Yacht Club Games has taken to the official PlayStation blog to describe exactly how Sony's classic character will appear in Shovel Knight's 8-bit world. Apparently, Kratos joins Shovel Knight as a secret boss: he won't randomly appear, so Yacht Club Games advises players to "keep eye out for secrets… and possibly even double secrets."

Once Kratos is unlocked, he'll appear on the world map, similar to other Shovel Knight mini-bosses. According to the developer, Kratos is "aggressive and tenacious," using his Blades of Chaos to unleash brutal attacks that knock Shovel Knight across the stage. That's not all, however: Yacht Club Games teases, "Maybe Shovel Knight learns a trick or two from Kratos…." However, what those tricks might be, the developer isn't saying.

Kratos' inclusion in Shovel Knight comes as part of God of War's 10^th anniversary celebration. In addition to Kratos' Shovel Knight cameo, Sony is commemorating the anniversary by releasing a "remastered" version of God of War 3, originally released on the PlayStation 3.

Shovel Knight comes to the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita on April 21, 2015. It's out now for PC, Mac, Linux, Wii U, and 3DS. An Xbox One release date has yet to be announced.

Source: PlayStation Blog